Medina softball surges early; track, lacrosse show mixed results

Medina’s softball team got off to a quick start to the season, heading into the week a perfect 5-0 with a four-game week upcoming, kicked off April 13 with the Greater Cleveland Conference season opener at home against Strongsville, followed two days later by a trip to Mentor for more GCC play.

The Bees, coming off a 13-16 2025 season, were scoring runs in bunches. They hit double figures in four of their first five games, falling just three runs short in the other. The high-water mark was a 23-20 slugfest with Hilton, New York, during which the teams combined for 35 hits and made 11 errors.

Not surprisingly, several Medina players put up big numbers during the opening stretch. Six full-time players were batting at least .417, led by junior Olivia Hendrickson and freshman Brooke Housum, each at .500. Senior Katie Rubino was at .476 with a team-best 11 runs scored. Senior Ryann Allar was hitting .444 and had driven in a team-best 10 runs, one more than freshman Bailey McCoy, who was hitting .471.

Medina’s team average was .417 with a .522 on-base percentage. McCoy and Allar each had one home run. They also shared a team-best five extra-base hits, with Allar collecting three triples.

While runs were piling up, other than one game, Medina pitching was mostly solid. Housum had done most of that, working 26 of the 30 innings the Bees had played. She allowed 32 hits, struck out 31 and walked nine, while posting an ERA of 2.96. In games other than the contest against Hilton, the Bees allowed just seven runs.

Track

Medina’s girls came up big last Saturday at the annual Tom Fasko Relays, held at Ken Dukes Stadium. The boys squad also had a strong showing in the talent-rich meet.

Medina’s girls won the team title with 92 points, finishing ahead of neighborhood rival Highland and future Suburban League foe Twinsburg, each with 74. The boys came in third with 86. Greater Cleveland Conference power Mentor won with 135, ahead of runner-up Woodridge’s 100.

Senior Brook Diello won the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.16. The girls 4x200 relay team of Diello, junior Mariana Cunningham, senior Michaela Gwinn and freshman Esme Rodriguez won, as did the distance medley relay squad of junior Alanya Yanmaz, freshman Skyler Jacobs, senior Julia Dietrich and senior Alexis Warnement.

For the boys, senior Jackson Riffle won the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 6 inches, edging Firestone’s Emmanuel Roebuck by about 3 inches. Riffle added a runner-up finish in the 200, missing the win by 0.02 seconds. The 4x400 squad of Riffle and seniors Nate Fischer, Liam Meade and Carson Henning also took first.

Lacrosse

The Medina boys were off to a 5-2 start but took a two-game losing streak into the week. The Bees opened 5-0, outscoring opponents 58-27, before falling 18-7 at North Canton Hoover and 11-10 at Green. In the loss to Green, Lach Talley tallied five goals and two assists.